The thrill of the chase
by maevelin
Summary: She had been running from him for decades but now she was finally in his grasp. "Do you know what is the worst torture for someone?" he asked her while his hands travelled on her body. Now it was her time to realize that with Klaus things aren't always what they seem. Klaroline one-shot.


One more one shot ;D

Many thanks to my beautiful beta **Anastasia Dreams**.

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_**The thrill of the….chase?**_

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_Your mind is playing hard to get but that's ok…_

_Cause you know that I know that you'll be mine someday…_

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Slow seduction, sweaty skin on skin, fingers intertwined, passionate kisses and intimate moments were a form of torture she would have never expected. Not from him. And yet here she was, pressed against the cold glass of the window of their penthouse in New York moaning and shamelessly moving against him as his hands and body were working miracles on her.

She had been running from him for decades. They all were. After their failed attempt to desiccate him they all knew that it was neither run or stay and be killed (and with Klaus that was the best case scenario.)

If it was up to her, back then, she would have stayed in Mystic Falls. She would have fought, even him – and that said a lot about her didn't it? – in order to maintain some normalcy in her life even if that would get her killed in the end. Or so she kept telling herself because deep down she knew that he wouldn't hurt her, she was full of light and all that jazz (she didn't blame him for the mushy outdated compliments, he was a bazillion years old after all and who was she to judge?, ok he was also kinda cute when he was telling her that - it was either that or that accent anyway!) and what was scaring her the most was that the torture he had in mind for her was completely different than the plans he had for everyone else.

But she wasn't on her own and she wanted to be with Tyler. Running together would be an adventure after all, wouldn't it? Together against the whole world…well back then it did seem exhilarating…

Being fugitives and lovers on the run wasn't as romantic as they thought it would be, though. They kept running from an Original – or so they thought – and that was taking its toll.

Elena had disappeared with Stefan and Damon, Bonnie had cast a spell to make herself, Jeremy and Matt disappear and that left her and Tyler running together into the sunset. The problem was that the sunset was more of a run till you can't run anymore. They would hide and never rest. They always were scared of the shadows. Always afraid of what the consequences of being discovered would be. They did the whole shebang, they changed identities, clothes, styles. Caroline Forbes was dead to the world. Tyler Lockwood was like he never existed.

But eventually the flame died. The sex became just a physical act and all innocence was lost. She didn't feel for Tyler what she used to feel and he didn't feel it either. Soon they became just friends (well with benefits, because let's face it, vampirism comes with unbearable needs and not just blood cravings!) and after that they took separate roads. Tyler at heart remained a werewolf and needed the security of a pack so he found one. She was not familiar with the whole werewolf mentality concept though. She couldn't function like that. She wanted to be free and to make her own decisions… on her own! She didn't want to admit it, but there was a voice in her mind that kept whispering again and again that there was a whole world waiting for her. A world that Tyler would never claim as long as he was holding on to his werewolf nature (and a lone wolf was not his thing either so sooner or later he was going to find his "mate" and that most certainly wasn't her!)

She craved something else. She still remembered the promise of a beautiful future. There was genuine beauty out there and all she had to do was…ask. _Could she do that?_

No. She couldn't. She may have changed a lot of names, but Caroline Forbes was still who she was. And Caroline Forbes was able to travel alone, to chase her dreams on her own. She didn't need a man, any man (even if he had dimples!), to show to her what the world had to offer. She was on the run, but she was free!

Somehow she pretended that she was ok with her independence, that she was feeling empowered being a wild girl on the open road and somehow she had convinced herself that being alone didn't hurt. Pretense gets you through the day, right? (Well the fact that eternity meant a lot of days and a lot of pretense was something she didn't want to talk about! Neurotic much?)

She kept running and dodging and being a lonely femme fatale (and yes high heels, red hair and smoky eyeliners did the trick for some years) exploring the world because she knew that the alternative would be to surrender to a man with blue piercing eyes and sandy hair that looked like an angel, but was the devil incarnate (the fact that she also had the predatory nature of a blood thirsty killer never crossed her mind…pinky swear!).

She would have to give in to the man that had promised her the world and somehow even then she knew that it was all a matter of time. Because time was running out and in the end she would fall into his hands. That thought was making her run even faster and further even if deep down she knew that he wouldn't hurt her. Maybe she was insane, maybe she was giving more credit to herself and to the infatuation he had once shown her, but she just knew that he wouldn't hurt her.

It was a gloomy day when her running days came to a halt. The day her mother died. The day that she decided that enough was enough! She was going to go back home to say her last goodbyes and she knew that he would be there waiting for her.

She didn't care. She was tired of running. She was tired of constantly looking behind her back. She was tired of being alone (and she was alone, Stefan had promised to never let anything happen to her, Tyler had promised eternal love, Bonnie and Elena had promised to be her friends forever and now all she had left were broken promises. And she was trying so hard not to think that maybe it was Klaus that would be the one to never break a promise. Now wasn't that a twisted unsettling -and yet comforting- thought?)

Beyond logic she returned to Mystic Falls for the funeral. It hurt so damn much to be there like this. Deep down she was grateful that Klaus had never taken advantage of the fact that Elizabeth Forbes was stubborn enough to stay in Mystic Falls. She would always respect the fact that he had never used her mother to get to her.

But her mom was now dead and he was there to take her with him. They didn't exchange words. She just followed him into his car and never looked back as he drove away to a future where she wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

Maybe that was his plan all along. Not to chase after her, but to wait for her to come to him.

He never mentioned the fact that she had run away. He never asked her anything or forced her to tell him anything she didn't want to. She refrained to tell him things from her past when she was running from him (was she running from him or just postponing the inevitable?) and when she would break that rule he would listen and sometimes he would smirk (she so didn't want to know what that smirk meant, she so didn't, but what the hell did it mean?)

He took his sweet time with her (come on did he have to wait to the point of literally driving her mad with need and desire?…of course he did silly Caroline!) teasing her and prolonging every sensual moment. A perfect gentleman, a naughty demon and a patient man (and she would know because he was always taking her out shopping and there were not many that could keep up with Caroline Forbes in a shopping -never-ending- spree!). Touches and smiles. And the thick sexual tension was rapidly building and she couldn't wait to be consumed by it! (He was going to make her beg wasn't he?)

He trained her (he even gave her vervain and conditioned her to pain, damn that hurt like a bitch!) and he would teach her things (literature, music, old movies) that would open her mind and her horizons. They travelled together all over the world.

Museums, art and music. Everlasting beauty. They were eternal, they were together, they were forever. Eventually they became lovers (and yes she begged!). In a swirl of emotion, in a way that no human heart could ever experience, in way that would have her begging for more (so much more!)

She didn't ask him if he was still chasing after the people she once knew and loved. She didn't ask him what he would do if he would ever find them and he didn't mention it either.

She was with him now and she knew what that meant. Being with Klaus wasn't an easy task, but it was definitely well worth it. All he asked was her loyalty; all she asked was never to break his promise.

It took them decades to end here. Against the glass and in the end over the floor next to the fireplace (ok sure vampires didn't feel cold but they were still bohemian creatures and romantics or at least she was and he was humoring her as always…).

She was content and she would have never imagined that being captured by him would be such a sweet agony. Now she was craving for more of that exquisite torture (who wouldn't?).

He was caressing her shoulder blade with his fingertips and she was signing contently when he whispered in her ear.

"Do you want to know a secret, sweetheart?"

She smiled and turned her head towards him.

"Always," she said.

"Do you know what is the worst torture for someone?"

She gulped and watched that evil playful glint in his eyes that only he could master.

When she didn't answer he brought her closer while his fingers kept tracing lazy patterns on her shoulder.

"To be on the run, never settle somewhere, always live in fear," he said as he nipped at her ear.

Shivers went through her spine. She knew that emotion too well.

"Now do you want to know what the greatest irony is?" he asked her smirking (and it was really hard to concentrate when his hands were taking such sinister routes on her body!)

"To run like hell when no one is actually chasing you," he said and waited for her reaction.

She froze and when she saw the mischievousness in his gaze it dawned on her.

"No one…_What?_" she screeched (and for the love of God could he stop doing that with his hands?! He was so distracting her!)

She glared at him waiting for an explanation and his laughter was so taunting her right now! (So were his hands! He should stop! …Oh who was she kidding! He should never stop!)

"Well I have been spreading some rumors here and there to keep everyone on their toes, but aside from that…let's just say that if I wanted to find them I would have already…but where would be the fun in that love?" he explained to her with a shrug like what he was telling her was of no importance.

"So all this time…." she stopped her phrase and looked expectantly at him.

"All this time your friends have been running when…" he raised one of his eyebrows at her.

"When nobody was after them," she whispered, wincing.

He smiled and kissed her. This was one more of his lessons. One-to-one strategy by the devil himself!

Katherine, Stefan, Damon, Elena, Tyler, all of them were just pawns in his game. He wanted them to run, to live in fear, basically to not live at all. And all of that while he would do nothing than just sit down, laugh and watch them fall in his trap.

She was a pawn too. He had played the same game with her too.

"Not you Caroline, I was always after you, one step behind, waiting for you to come to me" he told her serious this time like he had read her mind (and maybe he could, she was always so transparent when it came to him.)

She looked at him surprised. It wasn't her imagination. Every time she would feel that someone was actually watching her, following her, being close to her it was him. He knew where she was all along.

He slowly kissed her. She could understand now that he was always there. Watching from afar, protecting her and waiting (stalkerish much?)

Giving her the time she needed to grow up. The time she needed to be free before she would come to him. He kept his promise; he had told her he would wait for her, for a day, a year, a century. Truth to be told, he had never threatened her. She ran because of the assumption she and the rest of them had made. It was their choice and he was just laughing at their idiocy.

Except for the anger she was feeling towards his Machiavellian nature right now there was also one more emotion that was warming her heart. In a weird way, even when she was alone, she was never alone. He was always there, waiting for her. And that was more than enough. It was what she needed and what she would always need.

She gave herself completely to him that night knowing that he would always be there and that he was willing to share even his secrets with her.

When the time came to ask him if he was ever going to stop his little game with the "fugitives on the run" as he was calling them, he would laugh and tell her that maybe in a few centuries he would.

"_Why should he spoil his fun so soon?"_

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…_It's just the thrill of the chase…_

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_Well that was a little bit different from what I usually write wasn't it? Tell me what you think though, did you like it? Yes, no? Awful?_


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